The Professional — known as Léon in France and many other countries — is a 1994 film directed by Luc Besson which stars Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and Natalie Portman in her first major role. It was inspired by Jean Reno's One-Scene Wonder character in Nikita, who became so popular that Besson decided to essentially make a whole movie about him, though the two films are otherwise unrelated.

Leone "Léon" Montana (Reno) is a quiet, skilled assassin whose next-door neighbors were just gunned down by crooked DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Oldman) and his crew; the only survivor of the massacre is 12-year-old Mathilda Lando (Portman), who begs Léon to save her from the corrupt cops who murdered her family. Léon reluctantly takes Mathilda under his wing and, at her insistence, teaches her in the ways of his trade. Mathilda is intent on avenging her family by going after Stansfield— and Léon is intent on keeping Mathilda safe at all costs.

The Professional provides examples of the following tropes:

Abusive Parents: Mathilda's parents fall under this trope, which is likely why she doesn't care when she finds out they're dead. She's bruised and her father is seen slapping without her provocation; her stepmother is very apathetic at best to her daughter, Mathilda and her four-year-old son.

Affably Evil: Tony comes across as a nice guy and even throws children's birthday parties in his lair — but he also orders several dozen people murdered over the short period of time in which the film takes place. Given the sort of lowlifes that would require Léon's cleaning services in the first place, it's likely a case of Grey and Gray Morality.

Air-Vent Passageway: This trope is zig-zagged: Léon shoots and hacks out the hotel's ventilator fan so Mathilda can slide down to ground level, but there's not enough room for him.

Anyone Can Die: Sadistically so. Mathilda's family gets slaughtered, her little brother included. Léon and Stansfield even get killed by the same grenade.

Artistic License – Geography: At the end of the film, Mathilda is at the Spenser School, which (according to the headmistress's telephone conversation) is supposed to be in Wildwood, New Jersey. In the final moments before the credits, the school is shown to overlook the Hudson River and Manhattan — but Wildwood is an oceanfront community near the tip of Cape May, over 150 miles away from New York City. (These scenes were filmed at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.)

Stansfield is pretty careless about where he points his gun, especially for a cop. Given that one of his police colleagues calls attention to this when he inadvertently points the gun at him, it's clearly meant to show that he just doesn't care. Plus he's constantly shown to swallow huge amounts of drugs.

Mathilda's father stores his slug gun loaded and poorly concealed in the kitchen, though he at least has the sense to put the safety on. He is an idiot, however, so his recklessness makes sense.

Ax-Crazy: While ostensibly the leader of the corrupt cops, Stansfield is so psychotic, his second-in-command has to take charge whenever he becomes too wrapped up in slaughter, which is often.

Badass and Child Duo: Léon, an unstoppable hitman of a main character takes 12-year-old Mathilda under his wing. She begs him to avenge the murder of her family or teach her so that she can do it herself.

Batman Cold Open: The opening scene shows Léon killing a gang of drug dealers in a matter of minutes. The entire scene only exists to show how proficient Léon is, and has nothing to do with the rest of the film.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Stansfield is rather eccentric, to say the least: he discusses classical music during hits, is careless about where he points his gun, and frequently switches from absolute calm to screaming rage and back.

Camping a Crapper: Mathilda tries to ambush Stansfield in the restroom, but Stansfield is hiding behind the door instead of sitting in one of the booths.

Cassandra Truth: This trope is inverted. The headmistress of the orphanage doesn't believe Mathilda's story about her parents being killed in a car crash, but does believe the story about living with a hitman and being chased by corrupt DEA agents.

Chekhov's Gun: The "Ring Trick" sets up the very end of the film. The American theatrical cut doesn't feature the set-up, but it's not necessary.

Chekhov's Skill: Léon's seen doing crunches/sit-ups in early scenes of the film, and he tries to teach Mathilda how to do them while training her. These exercises allow him to hang from the ceiling unseen and ambush Stansfeld's men during the climatic showdown.

Coming-of-Age Story: In the beginning of the film, Mathilda is a bratty little girl who fights with her family and watches cartoons all day. Then she decides to dedicate her life to murder and revenge. By the end of the film, she's matured and vowed to "grow roots." The European cut of the film makes more of an issue of her budding sexuality than the American cut, though it also has Mathilda participating in Leon's assassinations, making her ultimate maturity more questionable.

Empty Elevator: ("Somebody's coming up. Somebody's serious.") (Léon's not in it, but as in Die Hard he has placed a corpse of one of the bad guys in there instead.)

Even Evil Has Standards: Mulky reacts with horror when Mathilda's brother ends up getting accidentally killed by Blood; he's heard shouting angrilly at Blood later in the scene. Killing the rest of the family apparently fell within his standards.

Tony also angrily refuses Mathilda's request to work for him as a cleaner at the end, instead sending her school and promising to support her with Léon's earnings.

Mathilda: Follow the blue car. Cab Driver: I suppose you want me to blast the music and go through the red lights? Mathilda: No, I want you to drive slowly, take the hundred bucks and shut the fuck up, okay?

Foot Popping: This trope is spoofed. When Léon rescues Mathilda from the police station, she throws herself into his arms, and the camera cuts to a shot of their feet — Mathilda's are hanging a foot above the ground.

Friend or Foe: Stansfield's gang nearly shoot one another on several occasions during the massacre, and at least one ESU officer is killed this way.

Headphones Equal Isolation: Mathilda's stepmom didn't hear Stansfield entering and thus never knows he's there until he executes her with his shotgun

Hitman with a Heart: Léon has an aura of childish wholesomeness to him. He lives a simple life, takes care of a pet plant, only drinks milk, and watches films with childish wonder. When called upon to do an act of good, he ultimately rises to it.

Jurisdiction Friction: The NYPD is not happy about the slaying of an entire family with no explanation (other than the DEA saying they were doing their job).

Knight Templar: Stansfield becomes this in his quest to hunt Léon down.

Kubrick Stare: Stansfield is fond of these. He gives a particularly menacing one just before leaving Mathilda's apartment at the start of the movie.

Large Ham: This is one of Gary Oldman's hammiest performances (which is saying a lot).

Laser Sight: Visible laser sights hunt for Léon and Mathilda in their apartment; they become visible due to the smoke and dust which has accumulated in the room.

Light Is Good: A terrified Mathilda is knocking on Léon's door, watched by a suspicious member of Stansfield's gang. Nothing happens, though we know Léon is on the other side of the door, debating whether to involve himself in the matter. As Stansfield's goon becomes more suspicious, light shines on Mathilda's face from the opening door and we see her look of relief.

Limited Wardrobe: Stansfield is never seen wearing anything besides his trademark beige suit and white shirt.

Lolicon: This is an inverted trope. The twelve-year old Mathilda has a girlhood crush on the much older Léon, who repeatedly tells her it won't happen. A deleted scene shows Léon turning down Mathilda's offer of taking her virginity, though she insists they share the bed from then on (instead of Léon sleeping in the chair). Luc Besson cut the scene after preview audiences laughed nervously at it (thus killing the mood), but in the International Cut, the scene was restored.

More Dakka: After Léon wipes out their entry team, the ESU team brings up a tripod-mounted, belt-fed machine gun — then shoves a rifle grenade into the muzzle and blasts it through the door into Léon's apartment.

Noodle Incident: Léon's overseas affair somehow figures into his current role. This is explained in the International Cut as his girlfriend's death. Due to Léon's family being less respectable than hers, her father killed her when she ignored his request to end the affair. Léon killed the father in revenge, then fled to America to join his father, who was already working for Tony.

Léon gets shot in the shoulder by an assault rifle while hanging upside down. After dropping one of his guns and grimacing, he shoots the ESU officer and manages to pull himself back up above the door.

Only Sane Man: Malky is this to Stansfield and his gang of corrupt DEA cops who seem mostly incompetent or dumb. This is the most prevalent during the raid on Mathilda's family where Malky seems the only one to keep a cool head after the fact (trying to calm Stansfield, and angrily yelling at Benny for almost shooting at him and then at Willi for killing Mathilda's brother).

Reality Ensues: Mathilda spends a good portion of the movie training under Léon's tutelage to become an assassin. Later, after Léon dies, she asks Tony to let her work as a hitwoman for him, but he vehemently refuses to allow a 12-year-old girl to kill people for him and sends her back to school.

Re Cut: Luc Besson's Director's Cut delves more into the relationship between Leon and Mathilda and gives the former a Tragic Backstory. It is generally regarded as the superior version

The Reveal: Stansfield and his men appear to be just another drug gang; when they hear police sirens approaching after the massacre, Malky calmly says they've got to go, but Stansfield tells Willi to stay behind.

Willi: What do you want me to tell them? Stansfield: Tell them... we were doing our jobs.

Russian Roulette: In the International Cut, Mathilda does this to show she's ready to become a killer. Léon knocks her hand away at the last second, which is just as well because the revolver goes off.

Self Stitching: Léon fixes himself up in the shower after suffering an off-camera injury during a hit.

Senseless Violins: Léon is shown carrying an instrument case when moving house, though he never removes a weapon from it.

Staged Shooting: A paintball round is used against a jogger. In the international version, it seems the same thing is happening again when Mathilda shoots a mark and leaves only a red splatter, but Léon casually kills the mark after pointing out to Mathilda what she did wrong.

Teach Me How To Fight: Mathilda trades reading lessons for training in the assassin's arts. The two different versions of the film differ on how much training she actually receives.

There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Stansfield sends two hundred ESU officers with an RPG — while regular cops establish a perimeter — after one man and and a twelve-year-old girl in a cramped apartment building.

Stansfield: I said take the guy out, not the whole fucking building!

Threw My Bike on the Roof: Just after the apartment raid, Stansfield comes across a group of kids playing catch with a basketball. He grabs it out of mid-air, comments that "Kids should be in school," then gets into his car and drives off, taking the ball with him over their protestations.

Too Dumb to Live: Mathilda's father at one point decided to swindle the corrupt DEA from some of their product he was storing for them. Even when they call him out on it and give him a clear deadline to return the drugs, he ignores them and waits passively for them to return and kill everyone in his home.

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